A Bad Day
by weirdgirl42
Summary: Sixth in the "Be There" series. Rush is having a bad day. Chloe/Rush


_Disclaimer: I own nothing_

_Author's Note: Sixth in the "Be There" series. As promised a while back, this one is mostly Rush and Chloe interacting.  
_

**A Bad Day**

"You have got to do something," Eli said as he walked into the mess.

Chloe looked up from where she was sitting with baby Maggie on her lap. TJ was in sickbay tending to two men who had been electrocuted working on the ship. Chloe had offered to watch the child for a while since Young had his own duties to attend to. The two-month old had been asleep until a few minutes before and was now busy looking around the room with her giant blue eyes.

"Do something about what?" Chloe asked.

"Rush!" Eli cried. "Rush is crazy today! It's like back when we first got here and he was going through withdrawal."

Chloe frowned. That morning when Rush had left his, or what had actually become their, quarters, he had kissed her half-sleeping head and told her he'd meet her for dinner. Nothing had seemed amiss. She thought back to the night before, trying to remember if anything had been wrong but he hadn't been acting strangely at all. Well, not strangely for him.

"You're the only person he really listens to," Eli was saying. "I don't want to like, abuse your relationship with him and I wouldn't ask normally but I think something might be really wrong. He threw a panel across the room and he's been shouting at all of us non-stop."

Chloe stood up, balancing Maggie on one arm so that the child was sitting facing forward against her chest. She followed Eli back towards the control room. As they got close, Volker and Brody appeared in the corridor. They saw Chloe and Eli and both looked slightly relieved.

"You might want to leave the kid out here," Brody said. "Wouldn't want her to become an innocent bystander."

Chloe turned to Eli, "Go with them," she said. "I'll be okay."

Eli gave her a skeptical look but did as she said.

Once they were gone she walked into the control room. Rush was standing off to one side, propped up with one arm against the bulkhead. Chloe could see that his shoulders were almost next to his ears. The tension radiated off him in waves. Maggie, apparently able to sense his pain, started to whimper.

Chloe gently bounced the infant in her arms. "Hey now," she said, "it's okay."

Rush spun around, apparently he hadn't heard them come in. At first his eyes were bright with anger at being interrupted but when he saw who it was and processed her words, they softened.

"Uncle Nick is having a bad day," Chloe continued. Though she was speaking to Maggie her eyes never left Rush's face. She could see that he was still struggling, though the icy façade he had erected for everyone else was beginning to crumble.

"I see Eli wasted no time in running to you." His voice was laced with contempt but Chloe knew it was just a cover.

"He's worried. You want to tell me what's wrong?"

Rush sighed and leaned back against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. "Like you said, bad day is all. I'm surrounded by incompetence. As a result we aren't getting things done as quickly as we should be."

"Bullshit," Chloe replied.

Rush was taken aback by the ferocity of her response. Not to mention the fact that she'd sworn around Maggie, something she'd chided him for on numerous occasions.

She stepped closer to him until they were nearly touching. "You and I have only ever had one rule. If you don't want to tell me that's fine but you don't lie to me. Not to me Nick."

For a moment they just stood there, at an impasse of sorts. Eventually though, he nodded and reached a hand out, letting Maggie grasp his index finger. "I was in the mess this morning. One of the Marines was telling Sergeant Greer that if we had been on Earth yesterday, he would have been at his sister's graduation. "

Chloe waited for him to continue. His eyes were far away, looking through Destiny into the vast space beyond. As if he could see not only to Earth, but to the past as well. Then Maggie gurgled and shook his arm wildly, bringing him back to the present.

"It's June 6th," he said. "I would have been married twenty-three years today."

Realization dawned on Chloe. This explained why he hadn't been upset that morning or the night before, Rush could barely keep track of the hour let alone the Earth date. Before she could think of a suitable reply, Rush's chin fell to his chest and his shoulders began to shake. Chloe's heart broke. She wanted nothing more than to wrap him in her arms but the baby prevented such an action. She settled for putting a hand on the back of his neck.

Chloe felt a knot in the pit of her stomach. It wasn't jealousy by any means. She knew that Rush would always love his wife. And she knew that, that particular love had nothing to do with whatever feelings he may have for herself. The knot was there because she knew no matter what happened to them, she could never make his pain go away. He would hurt for his wife for the rest of his life, and she hated when he hurt.

As she gently rubbed the tension from his neck and threaded her fingers through his hair, she could feel his muscles relaxing. Eventually his tears were gone and he straightened up. Maggie, not able to understand why her favorite uncle was sad, reached out and knocked his nose with her tiny fist. When Rush laughed the sound filled Chloe with relief.

Rush lifted Maggie out of Chloe's arms, raising the child above his head before bringing her down to rest against his shoulder.

"You should apologize to Brody and Volker. Not to mention Eli."

Rush looked at her skeptically. She raised her eyebrows. "You don't have to tell them anything, just apologize."

His shoulders slumped. "I suppose you're right."

"And after that you can come back to the mess and eat with us."

Rush rolled his eyes and looked at Maggie who was staring up at him in fascination. "There's no use arguing with her, is there lass?" Maggie responded by reaching up and touching his chin. "I think this one only likes me for my beard," he said as he followed Chloe out of the control room.

"Well it certainly isn't your charm," Chloe replied.

Volker, Brody, and Eli were standing a little ways away from the door, speaking in hushed tones. When Chloe and Rush walked up they got quiet and looked up with trepidation. The sight of Rush not only not yelling but almost smiling caused the three scientists to do a double-take. When he gruffly apologized for his behavior and suggested they all take a break until morning, they all wondered if someone from Earth was currently using Rush's body via the stones. But they accepted the apology and the suggestion and quickly made their exits, Eli pausing only to flash Chloe a grateful smile.

Rush and Chloe made their way to the mess in silence. They retrieved their food and sat at an empty table. After a few minutes Young materialized next to them and took Maggie for her dinner.

Later they were in their quarters, he sitting in bed against the wall reading his one book aloud for what had to have been the tenth time and she lying with her head pillowed on his leg. Rush was about to start a new chapter when Chloe reached up and shut the book.

"What was she like?" she asked.

Rush exhaled slowly. "She was a lot like Lieutenant Johansen actually. Kind, fairly quiet, but strong."

"How did you meet?"

Rush smiled at this. "Oxford," he said. "During my third year. I was running to class, I had been coming straight from work and was late. I passed what I thought was an empty room and heard music coming from it. For some reason I stopped and looked inside and there she was, playing violin. She told me later it was because her roommate was studying and she had nowhere else to practice. But it was like I was stuck in the doorway, I couldn't have left even if I wanted to. And when she was done playing I cleared my throat and she turned around. When I saw her face, covered with embarrassment at being watched, I just knew."

He looked down at Chloe, his mouth curved into a smile on one side. "It was the only time I ever missed a class."

Chloe laughed and shook her head. "Why does that not surprise me."

"And I suppose you were the type who only went to class when there wasn't something better to do."

"Well not all of us had majors that required IQs of 1000."

"You mean areas of actual academic study?"

Chloe smacked his stomach. "Shut up."

"Yes dear." His eyes glinted with amusement and when Chloe went to hit him again he caught her hand and held it against his chest. "That's quite enough of that," he said.

After a while Chloe squeezed his hand. "Do you remember that night we got drunk in the empty storeroom?"

Rush grinned and leaned down to kiss her, mirroring his actions from the aforementioned evening. "Not likely to forget," he said when he pulled back.

Chloe pulled her hand from his and reached up to trace her fingers over his face. "You told me that if you had the power, you'd bring my father back. I want you to know that if I had the power, I'd bring her back too."

Doing his best to swallow the lump in his throat Rush kissed her palm. Then he shifted his body until they were lying side by side, her back pulled flush against his chest and his arms wrapped around her.

"She was the only person who ever really knew me. She looked inside me and still wanted to be around me. That had never happened before. And it never happened since, until I met you."

Chloe sniffled, a tear running down her cheek. Rush brushed it away with his thumb and kissed the back of her head. "You saved me," he whispered, his lips brushing the outside of her ear. "Thank you."

Chloe pulled his arms more tightly around her. "We'll call it even."

**The End**

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